


I Will Be Good

by fitz-and-simmons (fitzandjemma)



Category: Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. (TV)
Genre: AU, F/M, Historical, The Young Victoria (film) AU, royal au
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-04-22
Updated: 2015-04-22
Packaged: 2018-03-25 06:48:40
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,406
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3800827
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/fitzandjemma/pseuds/fitz-and-simmons
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>The Young Victoria (film) AU. Princess Jemma is heir to the throne of England and Prince Fitz is the second in line to the small country of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha. She will one day need a husband and Fitz's family believe he is the best man for the job. He however, is less sure. </p><p>~~~</p><p>The English Princess Jemma had recently recovered from a serious illness. Rumour had it that she had refused to sign her mother’s advisor, Sir Sitwell, as her Private Secretary. It was a smart move, Fitz knew. Why should she sign over her power?</p><p>But other believed she was too young, still a girl. A woman couldn’t rule, she needed guidance, they said. But her refusal showed the whole of Europe how little influence her mother the Duchess had over her.</p><p>She would not marry whomever her mother, or her king chose. Here was a girl who made her own decisions.</p><p>Did his Uncle Nick want them to marry? Him, Leopold Fitz, marry the future Queen of England?</p><p>And what on Earth did the ‘art of seduction’ mean?</p>
            </blockquote>





	I Will Be Good

**Author's Note:**

> I was watching the film and all of a sudden I knew this had to be an AU! I will try to keep this historically accurate as much as possible but as this is based on a film not the truth there will be inaccuracies and for that I'm sorry!

On the 24th of May 1819 a baby girl was born.

Some people are born less fortunate than others. Such was the case with HRH Jemma Simmons.

As a child she was convinced of quite the opposite. What little girl does not dream of growing up as a princess? But some palaces are not at all what you would think. Even a palace can be a prison.

Her mama never explained why she had someone taste her food, why she couldn’t attend school with other children or read popular books.

When her father died soon after her birth, her mother and her mother’s advisor, Sir Jasper Sitwell, created rules. Jasper told Jemma that they were for her protection and he called them The Kensington System. Jemma could not sleep in a room without her mother or walk down the stairs without holding the hand of an adult.

She didn’t learn the reason until she was eleven. Unsure how to tell her, her Governess Raina slipped a family tree of the royal family clearly outlining her position into a history book. It was left atop her pile of beloved science texts. Even then it was still a few weeks until she found it.

Her Uncle Phillip was the King Of England. And yet, he and his three brothers could boast only one living child. Her, Jemma Simmons.

Sir Jasper’s dream was that the King would die whilst she was still young. He wanted a regency where Jemma’s mother would rule England and he would rule her. When Jemma had been born a traveller woman had made a prediction that she would be a great Queen of a great nation and Sir Jasper wanted to cash in on that prophesy.

So Jemma began to dream of the day when her life would change and she would be free. And she prayed for the strength to meet her destiny. She made a promise.

“I will be good.”

~~~

She poured herself into her studies. She had tutors for Maths, German, French, Italian, Latin, Music, Dancing, Drawing and Calligraphy but her true passion lay in the science books she had discovered in a corner of the palace library.

She excelled at modern languages and was handy with a paint brush but so long as she could dance and embroider a handkerchief she was considered educated enough. Much to her despondency the idea of a woman becoming a doctor or engineer was completely out of the question. So despite her appalling Latin skills and indifference to music she would spend her free time quietly studying not what she lacked, but the world around her. Even so, her isolation for other children her age depressed her and the majority of her days were melancholic and dull.

One of her only joys was her little spaniel dog, Bashful. He was a sweet little fellow who enjoyed long walks and a good game of fetch. Her ideal man. He lessened the ache of loneliness and she became better at talking with him than with people.

As a teen in October 1835 she grew gravely ill. Jemma had contracted a severe fever from the trips Sir Jasper insisted she go on. The constant public appearances, too like a royal progress for to be comfortable with, left her tired and thus she grew sick. Initially Sir Sitwell dismissed it as childish pretence but eventually a doctor was called.

As she lay in a bed in Ramsgate feeling wretched and at times delirious, Sitwell pressed a pen and a document into her hands, insisting on a signature.   
  
“No” Jemma insisted “No I will not sign.” Despite her weak state she knew what it was. The document would name him, Sir Jasper Sitwell, as her private secretary when she became Queen. To write her name on the dotted line would be to give him power over her for all of time.

The words swirled into soup and the glint of the advisor’s gleaming bald head blinded her.

“Sign it!” He hissed “Sign it!”

She shook her head weakly and pulled her hand away.

Her stubbornness saved her.  

~~~  
  
Late in the year of 1835 Prince Leopold Fitz of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha received a rare letter from his Uncle Nicholas Fury, King of the Belgians. It was full of the usual news and greetings but at the end was a sentence that alarmed Leopold.

_‘Due to recent events I have been considering with regards to your marriage status, I believe it is time for you to find a wife and one who can bring about a good alliance for Europe.’_

This was followed by the information that the Baron Mackenzie was to tutor him on the art of seduction.

Fitz knew his Uncle all too well. A good alliance for Europe meant a good alliance for Belgium of course. But what recent events could he be talking about?

All of a sudden it dawned on him. The English Princess Jemma had recently recovered from a serious illness. Rumour had it that she had refused to sign her mother’s advisor, Sir Sitwell, as her Private Secretary. It was a smart move, Fitz knew. Why should she sign over her power?

But other believed she was too young, still a girl. A woman couldn’t rule, she needed guidance, they said. But her refusal showed the whole of Europe how little influence her mother the Duchess had over her.

She would not marry whomever her mother, or her king chose. Here was a girl who made her own decisions.

Did his Uncle Nick want them to marry? Him, Leopold Fitz, marry the future Queen of England?

And what on Earth did the ‘art of seduction’ mean?

~~~

“Ich bin-” Fitz started to say before he was cut off.

“English.” Said Baron Mack. “Always English.” Fitz sighed and slipped out of his native German.

“I am a hopeless actor Mack, you simply cannot expect me to do this!” Fitz whined in a thick accent, pushing away the sheets of paper in front of him. They listed the Princess Jemma’s every hobby, belief and principle. They’d been going over them since the turn of the new year.

“Nonsense, you are not acting! You are simply being a more agreeable version of yourself for the Princess. Now again! What are her interests?”

“Painting.”

“Good. What else?”

“Her dog.”

“Give another.”

“She has not read many popular novels as she was only allowed them last year.”

“And?”

“And she recently read Oliver Twist by a Mr. Dickens and liked it.”

“Good. Have you read it yet?”

“Most of it.”

“You need to know it well by May.”

“What?” Fitz sat up straighter. “Why, what’s happening in May?”

“The Duchess, the Princess’s mother has invited both you and your brother to visit them in Kensington Palace in May.”

Fitz groaned and sank back down.

“I do not want to talk to her about her favourite music and operas. I want to talk about… Science! And models and locks and things.”

“You know your Uncle has forbidden you to, Leopold.”

“But surely she will not want to marry someone who agrees with her in all things. Surely she will want someone with varied interests.”

“There’s a difference between varied interests and your fascination with mechanisms. Some of the greatest men in this country have difficulty keeping up with you, you can not expect a woman to have the slightest comprehension of these matters.”

Fitz had no reply to that, causing him to sink deeper into a sulk. He did not want to seduce anyone. He was not the suave womanizer his father thought he would have grown up to be.

Most royals left with plenty of privilege and no one to guide them went a tad off the rails. Instead Fitz had drawn into himself and poured his time into his studies. As a boy he was allowed whatever knowledge he wanted. Sometimes at night he dreamed of becoming an engineer. Times were changing. They were on the brink of new discoveries and inventions, he could feel it.

But the homeland of all the greatest inventors was England. There were many great bridges there and a Mr. Brunel had just last year proposed extending English transport network by boat from Bristol across the Atlantic Ocean to New York City. There was much in England Fitz wanted to see and encourage.

Perhaps he should pay more attention to the ‘art of seduction’.  

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you for reading, let me know if you liked it :)
> 
> Chapter Notes -   
> 1\. The whole first section is based on Victoria's monologue in the first scene of the film.   
> 2\. The date of birth is Queen Victoria's real birthday  
> 3\. All the stuff about the Kensington System is true, as is the method by which she found out that she was heir.   
> 4\. The subjects are all the subjects QV was taught and she did indeed excel at modern languages and was poor at Latin and music.   
> 5\. QV's dog was really called Dash.   
> 6\. Pretty much all of the events in this chapter are true ok.   
> 7\. I'm pretty sure 'Ich bin' means 'I am' in German. I got that from the whole 'Ich bin ein Berliner' thing.   
> 8\. I don't know if QV read Oliver Twist but it was published in 1835 and she did read at least some Dickens so...  
> 9\. I got the whole 'I like locks' thing from a historical fiction book about Marie Antionette and her husband was obsessed with locks.   
> 10\. The Brunel thing is true too.


End file.
